Jersey Democrats pull off unity

While the nation’s Democrats talked unity, some with their fingers crossed behind their backs, New Jersey’s convention delgation did more than talk. The delegation, which included 59 Clinton delegates and 48 Obama delegates plus 20 superdelegates, most of whom have come out for Clinton, decided to unanimously vote for Obama. Deafening cheers rose from the convention floor when Gov. Corzine told the nation NJ Democrats were united. That was followed by “Yes we can!” chants. Soon afterwards, Sen. Clinton asked that the convention suspend the roll call and nominate Obama by acclamation.

While the Democrats were celebrating in Denver, there were darkening clouds on the Republican horizon. Specifically, a storm called Gustav was being projected to hit the Gulf coast on Monday, the opening day of the GOP convention in Minneapolis. President Bush is scheudled to speak. If the storm slams into New Orleans on that day, the country will be reminded Bush was slow to respond when Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the area just three years and three days before.

Fundamentalist Focus on the Family led by James Dobson was praying for heavy rain to ruin Obama’s acceptance speech tonight in Invesco Field stadium. The forecast for Denver is for good weather.

Maybe God is sending Dobson and his outfit a message.

Keep up with what’s happening in Denver, including our video blog, Convention Quickies, by clicking here.

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About Bob Ingle

Bob Ingle is Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey newspapers and co-author of The New York Times' Best Seller, "The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption" and "Chris Christie: The Inside Story Of His Rise To Power". He has won numerous journalism awards and is often a news analyst on radio and television. Twitter @ bobingle99.

20 Responses to Jersey Democrats pull off unity

“…the country will be reminded Bush was slow to respond when Hurricane Katrina destroyed much of the area…”

Would that be the ‘chocolate city’ Bob? Remind me who the governor and mayor of La. were at the time. And correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the residents of the ‘chocolate city’ re-elect the same fool who let the buses flood and the people swim?

Would that be the same ‘city’ that the good people of the US generously paid to rebuild—-STILL BELOW SEA LEVEL?

Bob, sometimes you let your prejudices show. I guess four days surrounded by nothing but atheistic liberals without humility is bound to rub off somewhat. After all, we all want to liked. (You can ask Dobson why that is.)

Democratic Unity is a winning concept that is confined to metro Denver area. Nobody else (with the exception of the fawning media) really is buying that this will help the country.

When the lovefest in Denver is over so will be this week’s momentum. Reminder this is the candidate who was losing primaries as he was headed toward the nomination and who has had his clock cleaned last month even with his opponent making a “mistep” with the “celebrity ad” and forgetting how many houses he owned. There isn’t a hurricane, earthquake, or locust plague large enough to get Obama to the finish line.

Abbott schools are a tribute to Democrats racist polices New Jersey ranks worst in the nation – and worsening – in the degree to which elementary schools are segregated byincome,and race New Jersey ranks fifth worst in the nation in the segregation of Black and Hispanic students. Segregatedschools result from segregated neighborhoods all thanks to the Abbott system of schools .I find it odd that these very same people support a person of color

What’s ODD Louis, is that a ‘person of color’ would support a party that created and enforces that racist school policy and a party that is opposed to school vouchers.

If a politician was really interested in improving the situation of minorities they would not support new school buildings, they would support vouchers. But then, if minorities were really interested in improving the situation for their children they wouldn’t support the politicians who support these racist school policies.

Anon 7:12 you beat me to it. That’s what I recall too – that the Democratic mayor of NO and governor of Louisiana failed to heed the warnings given DAYS ahead of the storm. The Feds are supposed to come in after the locals start handling things. How did that work out? And the storm didn’t actually hit NO, but the levees failed (predicted for 30 years). Bob, I greatly appreciate your fair reporting about what goes on here in NJ, but your leanings on the national level do come through from time to time.

Louis With the new affordable housing rules going into place there will be either 617 Abbott districts or no Abbott districts. The population of the inner cities should drop dramatically and a lot of new schools or expansions of existing schools in the suburbs will follow. Just think how many Billions more Corzine will borrow without voter approval.

Just because you chose not to take advantage of free public education when you were young, don’t have a job or at best a minimum paying job, can’t afford to move to the suburbs is no reason you shouldn’t be able to live there. Those responsible people who got an education which resulted in better paying jobs for both the husband and wife and live the American dream should now have to watch their neighborhoods and property values go to hell, right???

As for New Orleans did you notice that this governor(R) has already declared a state of emergency in advance of the storm arriving where Nagin and the bimbo (D) sat on their thunmbs and waited for the feds to do something after the fact.

The whole Katarina debacle was an embarrassment to our country and there are plenty of faults to go around. Start with the folks who knew they were buying houses below sea level, to the mayor, governor, FEMA and yes – the President.

Lack of leadership, decision making ability, lack of chain of command, no ability to even make simply common-sense judgment and partisan politics all played a role in this shameful event of our history.

If it wasn’t for Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré it would have been worst.

Yeah the Democrats love me so much they refused to let me and my team stay in their hotel.

Fact is they did something about unity when others didn’t and that isn’t changed by how you feel about the party.

As a descendent of people who came to this country to practice their religion in peace I resent some TV preacher praying for rain to hurt any political candidate, no matter what party.

There was plenty of blame for mishandling Katrina but fairly or not Bush and his FEMA get the lion’s share. And if that storm hits New Orleans Monday that will be the story. I pray that it doesn’t do damage there or anywhere.

Well said. Laziness, complacency, lack of organization (which carried over into and past the cleanup), ineptitude, poor decisions, NO decisions all contributed to the disaster. What was bound to be a mess was magnified ten-fold by the incredibly late and insufficient response of those most responsible for disaster preparedness and management.

Contributions of money, food, clothing and other goods were mis-appropriated, allowed to spoil or sit idle, or ignored totally.

Managers, whether in the public or private sector, are only as good as the people they surround themselves with, and idiots invariably surround themselves with idiots; or charlatans (or both). Keep that in mind when you vote in November.

As a gentle reminder, Pres. Bush had to be shown a video of the Katrina’s destruction (days afterward) before he did anything about the storm, and Bush didn’t even leave his vacation when the storm hit. Thank goodness Brownie was there to take care of things, though.

Was Dobson the same one who said, rather incredibly, that acceptance of homosexuality led to the New Orleans devastation or am I thinking of another fundamentalist? Perhaps Dobson and other such fundamentalists should focus on their own families instead of telling others how to raise theirs.

The show of Democratic unity for Obama was powerful and invigorating. The New Jersey delegation sensed the undercurrent of disunity and effectively began to surmount it with their actions. And Bill Clinton’s speech certainly made that unity more transparent. It’s been an incredible, historic convention in Denver, to say the least.

Mr. Ingle. Your sweet-as-sugar opinions today of all things Democrat, and the growing impression the public has of “liberal-leaning media bias”, seem to have finally merged and formed a sickly concoction.

It's aways Bush's fault. The only thing I want to see come out of the demo dog & pony show is how many days into Obambi's administration will they go until they take on the responsibility of office. I'll bet they're coming up with a number now. Dems have had the majority for almost 2 years. To listen to them whine now, I figure it will be Bush's fault until Obambi's second term. I give them 100 days – after that, no more blame Bush. After that it's their problem to fix. Change? baloney!

The new REPUBLICAN Governor of La. has already mobilized the emergency workers and is scheduled to evacuate the city if the storm gets within 500 miles. He has taken that incompetent nagin out of the loop.

Stuart Shepard, the Focus on the Family employee who made the video says it was made tongue in cheek, he says it was hyperbole. Of course, that can’t be true since it was said by a man who fears God.

But, we are to believe a man who sat in rev. wright’s church for 20 years and never heard his racist rantings, a man who believes that if a woman makes the decision to kill her baby she should have that right even if the baby survives the initial murder attempt, a man who wants to spend a new trillion dollars on social programs while promising to LOWER taxes on the middle class, a man who is friends with American terrorist ayers, a man who thinks there are 57 states, a man whose wife HATES America. This man we are supposed to believe but we can’t believe a man with no baggage, a man with no history to condemn him when he says hyperbloe? Instead, we must condemn his entire organization because they truly believe in God?

Bob, you should resent the never ending lying about his friends, his beliefs, his positions and the current conditions in this country rather than hyperbole gone bad.

And Bob, please expand on what they did for unity. They united 127 trough swillers from the most corrupt state in the nation? Heck, I think you might even know someone who wrote a book about the PIGS from NJ.

Bob, I loved your book, I love this blog, your Sunday column and your Friday radio appearance so I am going to chalk this lapse up to a tough week.

michael martin: I love the way you liberals avoid the issue and throw stones at others to deflect criticism. By the way, I’m really impressed by the Edwards quote on your personal page: Is that the same Edwards who was porking some bimbo while his wife is recovering from cancer? And then lied about it? Or is that Dubya’s fault, too? LOL! WAFM! You need a new hero, one that can keep his johnson in his pants. Let’s see; Bill Clinton is out, ditto Jon Corzine, hmmm. Well, keep trying, son.

Katrina, how is it they never want to accept and always looking for someone else to blame? Did Rudy take control and the city handle the terrorists attack? Or did they sit and cry and attack and rape thier own at any stadium? Did Rudy fly around with the big Oprah and decry blame on the government for not protecting the city? NO! So let’s take a historic look at the type of individual we are dealing with. Will the White House still be WHITE? Will it start to look up kept and sloppy? Will it be surrounded by a Ghetto? Oh, that’s right it already is! Go to any major city and ask yourself are you safe? Is it a ghetto here? Yet, instead of taking responsiblity (Ray Nagin) it will be our fault. Oh just incase you forgot it was less than 70 years ago when a facist rounded up an entire population and gassed em. We all know they have a chip on the shoulder. Just listen to Oprah and how they could never get ahead. I guess when I don’t get things the way I want who can I blame. So when you see the rallying cry from NJ and the rest of the demo’s remember how hard the cash box will be crying when Abbott Rule is Nation Wide. Just look at Colin Powells education research. Poor cities are underfunded throughout the entire nation he and his group says. Now put in free medical and housing and guess who are the slaves today? You betta. Stay safe out there they might feel a huge sense of ownership. Remember when OJ was found NOT GUITLY. They had a million man march. Could any of us do this or do we have to go to work? Exercise your right to bare arms. You might need it to stay safe.

If a major storm (Cat 3) threatened NJ, would not the state govevernment have some responsibility to anticipate as well as respond to potential damages? This would be the same state government costing taxpayers 33 BILLION per year in budget and BILLIONS more in debt. Does the state have no responsibility?

The state has total responsibility. Federal intervention occurs after the fact, as it should be legally as requested by the state during extreme situations. The fed has no responsibility, nor constitutional mandate, to place trailers all over the seaboards waiting for the next hurricane.

Now, one more question…

To my former NJ neighbors: how confident are you in your government that they will be able to perform in a crisis 1/2 of what NO faced?

Send the storm over to GA. We need the rain and will hold up just fine.

Eliminate the word “unity” from the headline, and you’ve got an accurate assessment of how the electorate feels

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Bob Ingle, Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey newspapers, on politics in "The Soprano State".

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Bob IngleBob Ingle is Senior Political Columnist for Gannett New Jersey Newspapers and co-author of The New York Times' Best Seller, "The Soprano State: New Jersey's Culture of Corruption." Hear him Fridays at 5 p.m. on www.tommygshow.com radio. twitter.com/bobingle99 E-mail Bob

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